Tipro MID questions
Posted: 22 Feb 2015, 23:17
Hello everyone,
I'm new here so I hope you'll bear with my naive questions
I'm currently playing a computer game (the new elite game) with lots of bound keys I can't always remember. To help with this I wanted to pick up a programmable matrix layout keyboard where I could label the keys and I was initially put off my the, ahh, significant price of entry. after some digging, I found out that I could potentially use an old PoS keyboard to achieve the same effect for significantly less and I took a risk and bought an old, but apparently unused digipios keyboard off ebay for £30. my research leads me to conclude that underneath it's a Tipro mid keyboard with cherry mx black switches underneath (I assume this is a good thing).
Googling for information led me here and that's why I'm asking questions
Here is a picture of the keyboard in question, not the best quality but I can take better one if needed.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/q5sgmy7egk3je ... s.JPG?dl=0
The model number is MID-AM-RM128A-UK-RA-02, part number is 25490 and the serial number begins with 2005 which leads me to think that is was made that year?
Anyway questions.
1) I have a staggered qwerty layout on top which is nice, but 80 blank keys underneath. I think those keys should have clear tops on them allowing a label to be visible, but I don't have them. If that's right, where can I get the clear tops from, preferably relatively cheaply?
2) I'm guessing that I could potentially get double and quad keys also with clear caps? how much are they?
3) the keyboard currently has a PS2 interface so I've built up a windows xp box to program it for now but obviously that's not ideal. reading some of the threads here leads me to think that I might be able to get a USB controller card for the keyboard and use it to replace the PS2 card? is that right? that would then enable me to program it with a 64bit version of windows? if this is true, how much and how available are USB controller cards? is it a difficult job? I'm handy enough on the inside of a PC.
4) Can I get rid of that card reader on the side easily? I don't need it but I'm not that bothered either way I suppose.
Many thanks for any help you may be.
Cheers
David
I'm new here so I hope you'll bear with my naive questions
I'm currently playing a computer game (the new elite game) with lots of bound keys I can't always remember. To help with this I wanted to pick up a programmable matrix layout keyboard where I could label the keys and I was initially put off my the, ahh, significant price of entry. after some digging, I found out that I could potentially use an old PoS keyboard to achieve the same effect for significantly less and I took a risk and bought an old, but apparently unused digipios keyboard off ebay for £30. my research leads me to conclude that underneath it's a Tipro mid keyboard with cherry mx black switches underneath (I assume this is a good thing).
Googling for information led me here and that's why I'm asking questions
Here is a picture of the keyboard in question, not the best quality but I can take better one if needed.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/q5sgmy7egk3je ... s.JPG?dl=0
The model number is MID-AM-RM128A-UK-RA-02, part number is 25490 and the serial number begins with 2005 which leads me to think that is was made that year?
Anyway questions.
1) I have a staggered qwerty layout on top which is nice, but 80 blank keys underneath. I think those keys should have clear tops on them allowing a label to be visible, but I don't have them. If that's right, where can I get the clear tops from, preferably relatively cheaply?
2) I'm guessing that I could potentially get double and quad keys also with clear caps? how much are they?
3) the keyboard currently has a PS2 interface so I've built up a windows xp box to program it for now but obviously that's not ideal. reading some of the threads here leads me to think that I might be able to get a USB controller card for the keyboard and use it to replace the PS2 card? is that right? that would then enable me to program it with a 64bit version of windows? if this is true, how much and how available are USB controller cards? is it a difficult job? I'm handy enough on the inside of a PC.
4) Can I get rid of that card reader on the side easily? I don't need it but I'm not that bothered either way I suppose.
Many thanks for any help you may be.
Cheers
David